What's Chocolate Got To Do With It?
by Hisa-Ai
Summary: "Can I have a kiss or are you just going to be mean all night?" Merlin whipped around to face Arthur with wide eyes, sure that he had to be hearing him wrong. Merlin had certainly thought about that before, about—God—kissing Arthur, but never in his life did he ever think that Arthur would want that too.


_What's Chocolate Got To Do With It?_

* * *

*.*.*.*.*

Family and friends and holiday cheer and gifts and all the decorations were an enjoyable part of the holiday season, but Merlin would always think, and never quite admit, that his true favorite part of the cold winter months, were the sales on Christmas candy. Every year, there were bags and bags of candy that spouted off holiday cheer and donned the colors that oft came out that time of year, and at _some_ point or another, they all donned sales tags as well, special deals and discounts that Merlin would be a _fool_ not to take advantage of.

His favorite treat to pick up whenever he could manage, but _especially_ during the holiday season, were the chocolate, bite sized goodness that _were_ Hershey's Kisses. Merlin simply could never get enough of _those_. So coming across what he thought was a great deal in the shop one day and walking away with several bags of them, was a good haul and a good day, as far as Merlin was concerned.

As soon as he arrived home, he threw all but one bag into a cabinet and sat himself down with a cup of hot chocolate and the sole bag he kept out, and thought himself something of a genius for stocking up on them as he had. He wasn't likely to run out any time soon, and _that_ was as good as anything ever was or ever would be.

*.*.*.*.*

Another enjoyable part of the holiday season, was the snow and how damned cold it could get, if only because whenever Arthur found his way over to Merlin's place, his cheeks and nose were red as they could get and _God_ , something about the way he looked as he tore his coat off and threw it down on one of Merlin's chairs was captivating and so damn attractive, as was the way he shook his head to rid his hair of as much snow as he could. He ran his hand through his hair a few times after, leaving it damp and sticking up in every which way as he threw himself down on the couch just next to Merlin, having let himself in without invitation at all, as usual.

"Cold outside?" Merlin teased, reaching out to flatten Arthur's hair absently.

"No, what ever could have given you _that_ idea?" Arthur asked, his sarcasm making Merlin grin wide for a moment as he reached for a kiss, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth without a thought in the world. He balled up the wrapper and threw it at Arthur, so it bounced it off his forehead and landed wherever it would; nevermind that Merlin would have to clean it up _later_ , for now, he thought he could sit here and eat kisses and bounce the wrappers off Arthur's insanely attractive head for the rest of the evening and not be bothered by anything in the world.

With a satisfied grin on his face, Merlin turned his attention back to the tv, chewing happily on his chocolate for a moment, until—

"Can I have a kiss or are you just going to be mean _all_ night?"

Merlin nearly choked on his candy, _what_ had Arthur just said?

Merlin whipped around to face Arthur with wide eyes, _sure_ that he had to be hearing him wrong. Merlin had certainly thought about that before, about— _God—_ kissing Arthur, but never in his life did he ever think that Arthur would want that too. And he'd certainly never expected for Arthur to just… say it like that. He wasn't sure how he would have liked for Arthur to ask for a kiss, or if he even wanted Arthur to ask or just… go for it. Actually, he thought just then, he would have liked for Arthur to just go for it rather than ask, but, he couldn't be too terribly picky he supposed. But God, Arthur couldn't catch him more off-guard, could he? Asking for a kiss like that after Merlin threw trash at him—something about him was _definitely_ a little off, Merlin thought.

 _"What?"_ Merlin asked, just to be sure he wasn't hearing things.

"A _kiss_. You know, those things you're eating and throwing the empty wrappers of at me? Can I have one? Or, a few?" Arthur asked, eyebrows high on his forehead as he raised a hand to tousle hair that Merlin had just flattened for him.

"Oh," Merlin nodded, deflated for a moment. _Of course_ that was what Arthur was asking after, God, how could he _actually_ have thought that Arthur wanted to kiss him? No, it was silly of him to get his hopes up like that. "Yeah, sure," he said hurriedly, moving the bag so it rested between himself and Arthur, eyes flicking back to the tv to avoid the curious look Arthur gave him, obviously having noticed the tone he'd had about him. If he just kept his eyes on the television long enough and pretended that nothing was out of the ordinary and that that tone hadn't happened at all, Arthur would eventually stop looking at him, eat the candy, and watch the show.

And Merlin would be left in peace to mourn over the kiss that could have been.

*.*.*.*.*

Merlin thought, after Arthur had enjoyed his candy and his tv and company and left for the night, that he rather _liked_ hearing Arthur ask after kisses. Even if he hadn't quite been asking after the sort Merlin _wanted_ him to be asking after, and even if Merlin would rather he just went for it instead of asking after the sort he wanted Arthur to be asking after, he still liked to _hear it_ , liked _those_ words coming from _that_ mouth. It was the closest he was ever going to get to Arthur asking for the real thing, after all, so he didn't think it was the worst thing in the world that he liked it so much.

Just like it wasn't the worst thing in the world that he made sure, as often as he could, that when Arthur wanted to hang out, he came over to Merlin's instead of Merlin going over to his.

And whenever Arthur came over, Merlin always made sure to have that damned candy on hand—even in the weeks after it was no longer on sale and he was out of the bags he'd had up in the cabiet, and he had to pay full price, he bought bag after bag. Because _God_ , could he and Arthur put them away, when left alone with a bag of them and a show or a movie or a conversation that made them lose track of time and wrappers that were left scattered about for Merlin to clean up later.

But it was worth it, Merlin thought, all the money, all the extra minutes spent cleaning after Arthur left, just to hear those words next time Arthur came around, just to hear that blond prat ask for a kiss.

And god, did he ask for it, every time, without fail. Even if Merlin didn't happen to be eating any at the time, he would sit himself down on the couch next to Merlin and say without fail, "Can I have a kiss?" and it would make Merlin's heart jump every god damn time. Because one of these days, Merlin had convinced himself, Arthur would ask for a kiss and mean a _real_ kiss, and not a _chocolate_ kiss.

One of these days, Merlin was going to just _kiss_ Arthur when he asked for it—when he **literally** just asked for it.

One of these days.

*.*.*.*.*

One of these days might come a lot sooner than anticipated, Merlin realized one afternoon when he was out and about shopping, picking up more candy, naturally, and a certain sort of decoration caught his eye as he glanced over the Christmas section quickly, carefully, out of habit and nothing more, everything too shiny and festive _not_ to let his eyes catch onto it all, really. But oh, _that—that_ wasn't shiny, _that_ was… promising. Inspiring, almost, filled Merlin's head with so many ideas that he couldn't help but grab it, fingers itching with the idea he couldn't shake off even if he had truly wanted to.

 _That_ changed everything, really, and as soon as he got it home and put it up, he was going to call Arthur, to see if he wanted to come over and watch his favorite holiday movie with Merlin—he wouldn't turn that down for anything, Merlin knew, so it was the safest way to get him over that night without arousing suspicion.

And it worked too easily, Merlin though, as Arthur was coming through his door and shaking the snow off him not ten minutes after Merlin called him, and five minutes after what he'd bought at the store had been hung up. As nervous as Merlin was just then, as much as his heart was thudding in his chest, he certainly hoped he _seemed_ casual enough, bag of chocolate tucked close to his side, slouched down on the couch as he didn't pay any attention at all to what was happening on the screen. All he could really think about was Arthur sitting down, asking for a kiss for what could have been the thousandth time that week alone, never mind how many times those words had left his mouth that month.

He kept his eyes forward even as he felt Arthur take his usual seat right next to Merlin, and, though he could feel the question in the way the other gazed at him for a moment, he didn't dare acknowledge him aside from a quick greeting, pretending to be too focused on the movie he'd started without Arthur to bother.

" _Mer_ lin," Arthur started at last. At this, Merlin allowed his eyes to flick over to him, eyebrow quirking in a question that didn't _need_ to be a question at all. "Can I have a kiss?"

There it was, the question Merlin had been waiting for, the words he'd _never_ get tired of hearing Arthur say to him.

"You want a kiss?" he asked coyly, sitting up slightly on the couch.

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is…" Merlin agreed slowly, nodding his head for a brief moment. "Alright, then," he said, turning to face Arthur full on and, without another word or warning, surged forward to catch Arthur in a kiss he hadn't _actually_ been asking after, but that Merlin had always wanted to leave him with anyway.

He expected a short moment of that, of the _incredible_ feeling of his lips on Arthur's, before Arthur pulled back with shock and demanded to know what the _hell_ Merlin thought he was doing. He expected this to be a one time thing that would leave him with embarrassment and guilt, but a memory he'd always cherish _anyway_.

But God, what he _didn't_ expect was for Arthur to kiss him back. Merlin was almost as surprised as Arthur must have been at first, when Arthur pressed his lips back against Merlin's, and his hand came up to ghost over the side of Merlin's face gently. He didn't expect Arthur to kiss him again either, for the blond to pull back just enough to take in a gasp of air before he closed the distance and kissed Merlin again, needily that time, insistently, lips hungry and wanting and passionate in a way Merlin had never even dreamed of before.

After several moments, Merlin, perfectly enough, was the one to pull away completely, breaking the chain of kisses and the too warm feeling of Arthur's hands carefully and hesitantly on his face, his side.

Eyes half-lidded, he couldn't help the grin on his own face as he considered the look on Arthur's just then, the look of a man who'd been completely and properly kissed senseless. By _Mer_ lin.

"What the hell was that?" Arthur murmured at last, seeming to get some wits about him finally.

"You asked for a kiss," Merlin shrugged, falling back against the couch, satisfied and still thrilled by it.

"I've asked for a kiss every day this month," he shot back, a hand moving to play at Merlin's bangs in a way that _almost_ distracted Merlin from the conversation at hand. "What was so different _this_ time that I finally got a **_real_ ** one?"

Merlin shrugged and nodded up to the ceiling, following Arthur's gaze and waiting for the moment it would click into place that the mistletoe hanging there was what was _different_ this time. After all, how could he _not_ give Arthur a real and proper kiss when they were sitting under mistletoe? He wasn't a monster, after all. If Arthur asked for a kiss while under mistletoe with Merlin, well, Merlin wasn't going to _deny_ him.

Arthur let out a chuckle and looked back to Merlin, shaking his head in a thoroughly amused manner.

"So I asked for a kiss every day for a month, and you're telling me all I _really_ needed to do was catch you under a fake plant to get a real one out of you?" Arthur demanded, teasing as his fingers stroked the side of Merlin's face. "Do you know how much weight I gained eating all that damned chocolate? I could kill you right now."

That time, Merlin laughed, sat up enough that Arthur's hand fell from him, leaned in close again, and murmured, "Are you _sure_ you don't want to kiss me again instead? Kissing burns calories, you know; I'm sure if we sat under this mistletoe long enough, you'll lose it all back."

"You make an excellent argument," Arthur relented teasingly, catching Merlin in another blissful kiss that made Merlin wonder just how long he'd be able to get away with leaving the mistletoe up after the holiday season was over and done with.

*.*.*.*.*


End file.
